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Schedule details

Jewish Heritage Tours in Istanbul,begin of Sephardic history at the Galata Quarter, a region which had been almost completely Jewish for more than 400 years. Today, Galata is known throughout the world by its huge tower, built in 1303 by the Genovese. Visit the Galata Tower, the office of the Chief Rabbinate is also located in Galata today, there are 16 Synagogues in Istanbul that are still in use.

First, visit the Neve Shalom Synagogue, used for most of the community functions today, as well as the Ashkenazi Synagogue dating from the nineteenth century and the only Ashkenazi Synagogue in Istanbul, originally built by the Austrian Jews. Stop at the Zulfaris Synagogue, which now also serves as the Museum of Turkish Jewish Museum since 2001. Its name comes from the street where it is located, which was called Zulf-u arus (present day Percemli Sokak) in Karakoy, which means “Bridal Curls” in both versions, as it was here that the brides, over the centuries, would walk by to go to the synagogue to get married. “Half day tour returning to where the tour concludes”.

” Full day tour ; You will continue to Lunch at a local Seafood Restaurant. (Lunch fee is not included) Drive to Balat, a Jewish working-class district on the shores of the Golden Horn, which absorbed most of the settlers in the fifteenth century from Spain.

Visit the recently restored Ahrida (Ohrid) Synagogue, originally built in the 15th century and is the earliest synagogue in Istanbul. The original 20-foot long oak bimah (teva), shaped either like Noah’s Ark or, like the Ottoman ship which brought the Sephardim to freedom from Spain to Turkey, can still be seen. Then visit the Jewish Cemetery before returning to where you tour concludes.

Inclusions

Pickup and drop-off included

Private Local Licensed Guide

Private De-Luxe Cars,

All Entrance Fees

Delicious Lunch

No shopping stops along the way !

Travel Excellence Guaranteed !

Half Day Tour Price

Full Day Tour Price

Payment

No pre-payment is requested. Payment of the tour can be made at the end of the tour in cash USD or EURO or Turkish Lira or by credit card ( Visa or Master Card ) in USD or in EURO. There is not any extra for Credit Card payments.

The above prices are valid for a tour in English or German (please let us know which language you prefer. For other languages; Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Spanish, Italian and French, Available only on request. Please include the form any language you want for your ideal itinerary..

Additional information

Some Synagogues may not be accessible at the time of your tour. We need your full name, birthday and passport copies by email or fax in order to get the special permission for visiting the Synagogues in Istanbul.

Confirmation will be received at time of booking, unless booked within 7 days of travel. In this case confirmation will be received within 48 hours, subject to availability.

At time of booking, Cruise Ship passengers must provide the following details under Special Requirements: Ship name, docking time, disembarkation time and re-boarding time.

Children 6-18 years must be accompanied by an adult

Please enter your preferred pickup time in the Special Requirements box at the time of booking, and reconfirm 48 hours prior to the tour’s departure time.

178 Reviews

We really enjoyed this tour and would recommend it to others. The visits to the Synagogues were pre arranged and without any hassles. We are really grateful and will definitely be going back to Istanbul!

We so appreciate Taylan’s arranging a guide for us at the last minute. We got a wonderful review of his services from a neighbor just as we were leaving for Istanbul. He was able to reach out to a guide he trusted and arrange for two days in Istanbul visiting the most important Jewish sites.

Balat is really a very beautiful district of Istanbul. In the past there were seaports opening directly to The Golden Horn. Around these seaports trades people were selling their goods and fishers were making delicious fried fish sandwiches for the people coming from their work. Throughout history the Golden Horn coasts were safe ports for the people living in Balat. These ports were playing an active role both for fishery and trade.

Wonderful tour! Our guide Taylan was very informative, pleasant and was able to guide us to the major sites that we wanted to see.. He took us to a great restaurant where we enjoyed great Turkish food in a wonderful atmosphere and with very good service.. We loved Turkey and the people we met were very friendly…We highly recommend this tour!

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